Win 2 nights penthouse stay at Ovolo Laneways Melbourne

Inspired by Melbourne’s beloved laneways, Ovolo Laneways is located right in the heart of the city on Little Bourke Street. This hotel is oh-so-cool with quirky, yet stylish interiors by local artists and designers. When it comes to the rooms, the pièce de résistance is the Penthouse, which has awesome city views from the outdoor terrace and rooftop hot tub, two bathrooms, an Apple TV, Nintendo Wii, iPod Sound System and plenty of space for four guests. The hotel is also known for its all-inclusive service concept, which includes complimentary wi-fi, mini-bar, happy hour and breakfast.

Entries close 15 May, 2015. Terms and conditions apply. See full terms and conditions. Special terms: Excludes blackout dates, and must be claimed before 31 August 2015. Maximum four persons staying and maximum eight persons in the room at any one time. This prize is not to be used to host an event. Must book direct with Ovolo Laneways

Get Your Start in Travel Journalism

December 6, 2010

Australian Traveller is looking to champion media students and recent graduates in travel writing and photography. Here’s how to get your foot in the door of the best career in the world…
Starting this month, Australian Traveller is opening our doors to talented new journalists and photographers with the Australian Traveller Virtual Intern Program. As anyone looking to get their first break in media industry knows, it is an extremely difficult and often discouraging journey. We’d like to help make by championing talented people.

Australian Traveller is giving participants in the Virtual Intern Program (VIP) a forum to get their work seen and read by our travel-loving readership. Each month, we will publish their work in our E-newsletters and online.

NOTE: We also take real-life interns in our office, so if you’d like to be considered for an editorial or photographic internship in our Sydney office, please send an email with the subject head: Inhouse Intern Request to: interns[at]australiantraveller.com

HOW TO GET STARTED: WRITERS

One of the first pieces of advice you are given as a budding journalist is to “write about what you know”. This is completely contrary to what a travel journalist craves, which is to write about things they don’t know – to experience new places and situations with an explorer’s sense of discovery.

But to get your start in travel journalism that’s exactly what we’d encourage our VIPs to do. Whether you’re a regional writer-in-waiting or city-based journalist-to-be, choose a destination or experience that you love in your local area. Write 600 words about it; it could be an evocatively descriptive story about your, a review, a guidebook-style piece or a portrait of colourful locals – how you use those 600 words is entirely up to you. The editor will choose her favourite entry each month to include on the newswire and a selection of others will be uploaded to the website.

HOW TO GET STARTED: PHOTOGRAPHERS

We’re looking to include small galleries of budding photographers’ images on our website each month. They can depict places, people and things, and be humorous, sad, moody, arty, sweet or simply scenic. The only rule is that they must be taken in Australia as we are a domestic travel magazine.

That said, they do not need to be obviously travel-related. Basically, we just want them to be about being Australian. What images could you take to best capture the spirit of the Australian lifestyle?

The aim of AT’s Virtual Intern Program is to encourage young and upcoming writers and photographers by giving them a public forum to show off their work on Australia’s biggest-selling travel magazine’s website. Who knows where this journey could lead…